Radwell International’s Blog

How much is data worth to your business? According to a study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the World Economic Forum (WEF), manufacturing companies could save billions by combining their digital records. This article explains the opportunities sharing data creates for manufacturers and the obstacles they may encounter.

While big data and artificial intelligence (AI) are changing the face of industry, BCG and WEF’s research has found they also could produce benefits worth $100 billion for businesses worldwide. This conclusion is based on a survey of 996 manufacturing managers by calculating the savings their various suggestions could bring to manufacturing companies.

Data sharing is considered a viable opportunity by manufacturing managers. Of those surveyed, 72% thought sharing data with other manufacturers would improve operations, while 47% believed optimized assets are the biggest benefit of sharing data more widely. How can this contribute toward billions in savings?

Obsolescence is an unavoidable part of any manufacturing endeavor. No matter how well your company has planned, some factors are more challenging to consider in advance than others.

In the era of Industry 4.0, new technology continues to revolutionize the manufacturing industry. Industry professionals view it as the latest industrial revolution, hence the Industry 4.0 moniker. Big data and computing technologies are the front-runners in innovations proving value to manufacturers. It is more crucial now than ever to remain on the leading edge of new technology. Upgrading equipment to provide greater efficiencies will provide a greater return on the investment.

It is coming, slowly but surely. The shift to electric vehicles (EVs) is happening, thanks to legislative mandates and early adopters worldwide. While the days when sales of EVs will outnumber those of internal combustion-engine (ICE) vehicles are a decade or two in the future, the consequences for the automotive supply chain need to be understood and acknowledged now.

Most EVs will retain the form factors of their ICE predecessors. They will have four wheels, conventional doors, a steering wheel, accelerator and brake pedals, and all of the comfort, safety, and convenience equipment that consumers have come to expect. But under their body panels, there are differences that will affect the vehicle production process.

There are many opportunities to increase supply chain efficiency. There are also many challenges that impact the ability to run efficiently. By working through some of the challenges with some practical methods that have a big impact on supply chain management, any organization can increase their supply chain efficiency, regardless of industry.

Let’s start by exploring a few of the challenges to supply chain efficiency that impact most industries.

As the virtual world collides with real-world manufacturing issues, the winners will be those who successfully navigate the challenges of both the technology and the people who will operate it. That was the central theme of the 2018 Global Automation and Manufacturing Summit (GAMS), presented by CFE Media and Hannover Messe USA and sponsored by Siemens, SAP, Advantech, Beckhoff, Infor, Stratus, UL, Universal Robots, and Lapp.

The half-day thought leadership event that took place Sept. 12 as part of IMTS 2018 in Chicago drew a full house of manufacturing leaders looking to navigate the challenges faced in an age of robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

A supply chain is a network of individuals, businesses, organizations, resources, activities and technology involved in the creation and sale of a product from inception through to delivery to end users. Supply chain management is the oversight of all resources that go into the supply chain process.

Within supply chains there are many challenges that emerge. These challenges vary from organization to organization but there are some common opportunities that many different industries may experience.  With some adjustments and focus, many of the common challenges can become manageable aspects of the supply chain.

Here are some common supply chain challenges that arise within a manufacturing and distribution environment: